Barkley and Mitchell: More than Auburn ties

The way Charles Barkley put it, he “kind of bonded” with Mike Mitchell because of where they played college basketball.

At Auburn. “We were in the same boat,” Barkley joked Tuesday. “No respect, no one cares about you. They got 100,000 for every football game, and we had our 5,000 for every basketball game.”

They were in the same boat as players, too. Five years ago, both were named to Auburn’s all-century basketball team.

Barkley, as a high school kid, remembers watching Mitchell play at Auburn. Years later, Barkley sometimes matched up against Mitchell in the NBA.

Barkley today has this impression of Mitchell the player: “He was comparable to Bernard King.”

But Barkley contacted Mitchell last month not because of basketball or because of Auburn. Barkley wanted to say his “goodbyes” for the reasons people in San Antonio will at a memorial service on Thursday.